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Alchemist
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 9:33 PM
Default Prima Guides vs wiki sites
this thread is to be about which of the two is better.


me; I think the Prima Guides.
each copyright page has something like this::
"Prima Games has made every effort to determine that the information contained in this book is accurate."

have not encountered any wiki site (for this game) that told anything similar about their site.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 9:38 PM Last edited by ihatemandatoryregister : 15th Nov 2017 at 9:49 PM.
Sometimes things change between the time the Prima Guides are written and the game is released. Or things are later changed in patches.

The problem with the wiki is that it's mostly fan-supplied. This is both good and bad - good, because erroneous information can be updated, bad, because the information can be incomplete or wrong.

For what it matters, Prima Guide accuracy seems to depend heavily on the game itself and possibly the developer - the one for Half-Life 2 is pretty accurate, while the one for Animal Crossing: New Leaf has multiple errors.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Scholar
#3 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 10:03 PM
i've never seen a prima guide before but i use the wiki a lot .the bad thing i'll say about wikis is that they can be edited by anyone

I May Be Life Dumb But I'm Sim Smart(mostly).
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retired moderator
#4 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 10:04 PM
Never used a Prima Guide, I never had one and couldn't be bothered with one. I know it has some inaccuracies since I have seen people mention things from it that are know are not correct, they are old and players and modders have either found out differently or fixed certain things. It's better to simply play the game and take notice of what is happening and ask experienced players if you are not sure of something. Most things though you can quickly learn by actually playing. The Wiki can be helpful but I would never assume it was 100% correct either since it's fan made.

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~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 10:20 PM
I have the base game Prima Guide and one for Nightlife. I use the wiki more often, because it's easier to look through and also I'm lazy, but I don't know, I like it, even if it does have its inaccuracies. They have a lot of details and pictures and it's just... nice to look at, I think. But I definitely would not have paid full price for it.

"'Why is Shinji blushing over everything Kaworu does,' you ask? He's gay..... gay gay gay gay gay" -Actual Kaworu
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#6 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 11:16 PM
The Prima Guides for TS2 have some notorious errors. As ihate said, all of them were made quite some time before the game or relevant EPs were released. On the whole, I've got most of my information about the game from fan sites - the wiki attached to this site is particularly useful for modding and technical informations

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
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Mad Poster
#7 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 12:55 AM
Fully agree with maxon... as old as TS2 is, and knowing that the Prima Guides don't tend to update much beyond the end of new content releases, there's no way that I'd be using them instead of a reliable wiki (especially the one for MTS, when it comes to mods and techniques) more than a decade after the game came out... I'd say that would be the equivalent of going to a 19th Century farrier to get repairs done on a 21st Century car.

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Turquoise Dragon
retired moderator
#8 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 1:28 AM
Mad Poster
#9 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 1:33 AM
Thing with using the wiki is that sometimes the information is rather vague, incomplete, or simply not there. When I'm looking for something, I usually check the wiki first, and the Prima Guide second. And I take both of them with a grain of salt - even if they are accurate, one of my 50 zillion installed mods likely changes things.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#10 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 2:29 AM
Prima Guide is good reading but go to the wiki sites for facts.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Mad Poster
#11 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 4:24 AM
Forum Resident
#12 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 1:52 PM
Neither the wiki or the Prima Guides are 100% accurate. Best example came when they released seasons and the new juicing machine. The recipe's in the Prima Guide (and if I remember rightly) from the actual Maxis team was completely wrong. That needed a lot of experimentation from the community. Accurate Recipes of Juices and Juice Bugs Or sometimes neither the Wiki or the Prima Guide is right because the actual feature is broken and never fixed right. Or gets fixed and then is broken by later expansions. The Biotech Station is a good example of this. It's 2017, we had a fix years ago from Pescado, Cyjon and others. Then it got fixed by an expansion from Maxis.... but now we got a new one on Mod the Sims in 2017. The thing was still broken after 13 years. That's why I don't use this thing in my game, because who knows if it still can cure or kill. Guides are useless for this, it's simmers who have had to work it out.

But for ideas on gameplay. I know lazy sims aren't very active, but after reading more about them in the Prima Guide, I play them more to type and therefore started giving more of them jobs where they can sit down. My wealth sims tend to be lazy and therefore always on the computer. i use a lot of Apartment Life features more often because of the guides. The new talk options help me discover hobbes, the class system help me build district and neighbourhoods. Even at release, I felt these options weren't explained well by developers. The guides have helped me with this. The Wiki I use for quick information, like the name of a Townie my sims just met. For more comprehensive accuracy, I turn to MTS, Cyjon, Maty or Boiling Oil, who have actually tested things, or read discussion round the community. (Cyjon's chemistry guide is very good)
Mad Poster
#13 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 2:01 PM
I don't understand the fascination with prima guide. Even if some of the information is correct, we know it's very often wrong, so how can you know if that particular information is trustworthy or not? I second gdayars, wiki all the way. Or if I'm in the mood, code. If you (the collective you, not a specific person) think reading prima guide is fun, great go for it. But I wish people would stop answering questions based on it unless they confirmed the information in game or from a second source.

Creations can be found on my on tumblr.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 7:28 PM
I have all the Prima guides. Even if the information is wrong, I can scribble corrections right in the book and have it open next to me while I play. I just find it more convenient that way. Your mileage may vary.
Theorist
#15 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 8:00 PM
I liked the prima guide as a child. When my internet and computer time were strictly monitored it was a nice way to do something sim-related that didn't involve the computer. Irrc I used the object listings to scribble plans for houses and furnishings into a notebook so that I could just create them in the game without losing too much time to planning.
Mad Poster
#16 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 11:46 PM
I didn't know Sims Wikki allowed just anyone to edit...correct? And there are STILL areas not totally explained. I am still trying to write the definitive guide to adoption: using different ways to "put up for adoption" and get or adoption babies/toddlers/kids. AND the easiest way to prevent memory loss, or CREATE memories. Thing is, I would want opinion from here ---which can ADD to the confusion, as there are many people being "helpful" who don't really know. And I could hardly say "only respond if you are a skilled/knowledgable/moderator type person".

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retired moderator
#17 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 11:57 PM
Quote: Originally posted by grammapat
I didn't know Sims Wikki allowed just anyone to edit...correct?

Yes, you don't even have to be registered.
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Help:Editing

Don't forget that MTS also has a wiki you can add to or edit, although some of the articles may be Mod only edit.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Main_Page
Forum Resident
#18 Old 21st Nov 2017 at 1:37 AM Last edited by natboopsie : 21st Nov 2017 at 2:24 AM. Reason: clarity
If pressed, I'd vote for the wiki over the Prima guides, because of the truly major errors that were in the guides and the fact that the wiki can be updated and hopefully over time becomes more and more accurate and informative because of it.

But really? I'd rather write-in "Googling." Especially when lately I see more and more questions that indicate folks are just not realizing that the exact answers they want were already discussed in depth only a few years (sometimes months) ago. There is an amazing amount of great information already out there, including right here on this site---especially from say 2010-2012, when some really solid modders and other modding-oriented communities (Numenor, Mootilda, MATY and Simbology, so many others) hadn't yet gone inactive and so were at the height of their knowledge from all the years they'd had with the game already.

I can't highly enough recommend Googling and carefully reading the results; it's how I've learned almost everything I know about the game that I didn't learn by playing.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Mad Poster
#19 Old 21st Nov 2017 at 2:14 AM
In addition to that, use the site: modifier in your searches. for example, a lot of my searches look like:

Quote:
site:modthesims.info "sims 2" something


Limiting your searches to a few of the better sites (MTS, Simbology, or MATY) does a great deal to cut out a lot of the misinformation.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Forum Resident
#20 Old 21st Nov 2017 at 2:25 AM Last edited by natboopsie : 21st Nov 2017 at 2:52 AM. Reason: completing site addresses
Agreed, though often I don't add "sims 2" (except for MTS searches) since most of what's on those other sites is about Sims 2.

Don't forget Insimenator.org and Leefish.nl (all in English despite the Netherlands suffix), which also have a bunch of very useful and often in-depth stuff!

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Alchemist
Original Poster
#21 Old 22nd Nov 2017 at 8:47 PM
about the Prima Guides being inaccurate; "outdated" seems to be more accurate than "inaccurate".

about price; there are free downloadable versions of the Prima Guides at various sites.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 22nd Nov 2017 at 8:56 PM
If by outdated you mean outdated by the time the game was released and hit the shelves, then yes.

Creations can be found on my on tumblr.
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